“Lens flare is created when non-image forming light enters the lens and subsequently hits the camera’s film or digital sensor. This often appears as a characteristic polygonal shape, with sides which depend on the shape of the lens diaphragm. It can lower the overall contrast of a photograph significantly and is often an undesired artifact, however some types of flare may actually enhance the artistic meaning of a photo. Flare can take many forms, and this may include just one […]

Sixteen photos inspired by Philly Photo Day. Biker along Kelly Drive East Coast Boxer Midvale Avenue Vain Futility Baby Girl the Boxer A woman searching for In Riva Restaurant. (I know this because shortly after I snapped this photo, she turned around and asked me if I knew where it was located.) John, the landscaper at St. Bridget’s Catholic Church Doorway to a mausoleum at Laurel Hill Cemetery Autumn afternoon on Allegheny Avenue. (Has a nice ring to it, no?) […]

Philadelphia’s Laurel Hill Cemetery is one of America’s most notable burial grounds. Founded in 1836, during a time when the only options for burial were in overcrowded churchyards, Laurel Hill was established as a bucolic alternative where the living could bury their dearly departed. In recent years, the cemetery was designated a “National Historic Landmark” — the first graveyard in the country to receive such a title. Many notable figures have been buried here, among them Civil War generals, Titanic […]

Running from the reaper will not do any good. Welcome, then, this grim gentleman to your heart and neighborhood. Not so you would die, but so you’d be reborn. With the reaper around, wisdom is formed. Death takes us all: at some point, we fall. With death at the door, and darkness, abhorred, the various terrors and demons of night . . . Keep pushing, dear children, move towards the light. Live life till its end, with death as your […]